2007 Stuttgart World Championships
The 40th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, from 1 to 9 September 2007. Stuttgart also hosted the World Championships in 1989. These World Championships also served as qualifications into the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Format of Competition All participating gymnasts, including those who were not part of a team, participated in a qualification round. The results of this competition determined which teams and individuals participated in the remaining competitions, which included: *The team competition, in which the eight highest scoring teams from qualifications competed. Each team of six gymnasts could only have three gymnasts perform on each apparatus, and all three scores counted toward the team total. *The all-around competition, in which only the twenty-four highest scoring individuals in the all-around competed. Each country was limited to only two gymnasts in the all-around final. *The event finals, in which the eight highest scoring individuals on each apparatus competed. Each country was limited to two gymnasts in each apparatus final. Qualifications Twenty-four teams qualified into the World Championships from the previous World Championships in Aarhus. *Australia *Belarus *Brazil *Bulgaria *Canada *China *Czech Republic *France *Germany *Great Britain *Greece *Italy *Japan *Mexico *Netherlands *North Korea *Poland *Romania *Russia *South Korea *Spain *Switzerland *Ukraine *USA In the qualification round, the top 12 teams automatically qualified to the 2008 Olympics: USA, China, Romania, Russia, Italy, Great Britain, France, Brazil, Ukraine, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Results Notable Moments *The Americans won their second World team title. Incidentally, all of their World team titles were won the year before the Olympics. *USA's Shawn Johnson became the fourth American to win the World All-Around title, following Kim Zmeskal, Shannon Miller, and Chellsie Memmel. *Brazil's Jade Barbosa was leading the all-around heading into the last rotation. A fall on floor exercise dropped her down to third place, the highest all-around placing for a Brazilian gymnast. *Russia's Ksenia Semenova became the first Russian World Champion since Svetlana Khorkina in 2003. *France's Cassy Vericel became the second French gymnast to win a World medal on floor exercise, following Ludivine Furnon. *The Longines Prize for Elegance was awarded to the USA's Shawn Johnson. Controversies *During the last rotation in the team final, Russia was on vault. Ekaterina Kramarenko balked on her vault attempt as a result of being off-step. To avoid injury, she did not perform her vault and slowed down before she hit the apparatus, stepping onto the springboard and touching the vault table. Thinking she would be able to perform another vault, Kramarenko walked back down the runway but was escorted off the floor. The judges immediately gave her a score of "0", which was counted as one of three scores for the team's vaulting apparatus. This score was assigned in observation of section 8.1 of the WAG Code of Points, which states that a gymnast is not allowed a second attempt if she has touched the springboard or vault itself in any way on her first attempt, and with which coaches and gymnasts are expected to be familiar. The Russian team petitioned that Kramarenko's qualification score of 13.725 be able to carry over as a mock-compulsory score, but were refused. In another petition to have Russian team members Yulia Lozhechko and Elena Zamolodchikova's vaulting scores averaged and then counted, Russia was again refused. When asked to comment on the incident, Russian coach Andrei Rodionenko explained, "Nobody knows what happened, it was a shock for everyone." *During the medal ceremony for the team final, the national anthem for the USA was abruptly cut short, causing frustration for the coaches and athletes alike. Medal Count Category:World Championships Category:2007 Competitions